Answer
On the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement IV some subtests, including the Passage Comprehension subtest, include questions that use pictures as clues.
Young children often use the pictures to guess the correct answers and boost their scores.
Good readers do not use pictures and they do not have to guess.
Ask your son's evaluator to test his skills in word identification, word attack (nonsense words), and reading fluency. Ask the evaluator to use a reading comprehension test that does not provide pictures.
Recognizing pictures is not a valid measure of reading comprehension.
Because the subtests on the WJ IV are short, they may not provide sufficient information about what your child knows and is ready to learn. The Passage Comprehension subtest on the WJ IV should be supplemented by reading tests that use longer passages.
On the Gray Oral Reading Tests (GORT-5) some children who read slowly and inaccurately and lack fluency will receive an "average" score in comprehension. This is because many young children use their thinking skills to answer questions on tests when they cannot read the material. For example, when asked this question, "when did Johnny eat breakfast?" most children answer the question correctly without reading the text.
Guessing, using pictures as clues, or using thinking skills cannot compensate for poor word recognition skills.
Your child will not be able to "guess" his way through a biology or history text. |
